Ford EcoSport : Official Review

This is a discussion on Ford EcoSport : Official Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; I picked up my Silver Ecosport Automatic yesterday and thought I would share the experience thus far. That is right ...

I picked up my Silver Ecosport Automatic yesterday and thought I would share the experience thus far. That is right from the time I booked it (pre-booked 29th May) till I drove it home.

Well to start I was sold on the car ever since it was launched and I knew I wanted one. I was tracking various reports regarding the official launch and I when I got news that pre-bookings were open in the end of May and I made sure that I sent over my chq for 50K to SC Ford Mumbai.

The excitement really kicked in with Mr. Singh announcing a killer price. Then the games began. The SA of the dealer was almost as difficult to get a hold of as Mr. Singh our Prime Minister. What followed was a string of vague and hindered responses till he finally shared with me the good news that I would receive my car this year! After having pre-booked and been promised that I would get my car in the first batch I ran out of patience. I was convinced that dealers were making out of turn allotments and I didn't want to be a victim.

I decided to take this up with the management of Ford and wrote to Mr. Vinay Pirparsania - Exec Director ; the GM (west region) and the GM of the Dealership, stating all the facts and submitting pre-booking proof. I recd a prompt reply from the GM (west) informing me that I need not be too worried and I will receive my car in a couple of weeks. True to his word I did! I must add that had I not escalated my case and believed all the stories my dealer was making up I would have never got my car! I guess the temptation is too much for them to make a quick ( illegal) buck and make allotments out of turn. This is a plain fact and I am convinced that Dealers are shortchanging legit customers everywhere.

Well, after my long stressful battle, I picked up my Silver AT from the Dealer. Needless to say the delivery experience was average at best. I was not expecting any better!

The good news however is the car! It exceeded my expectations as I had not TD a Eco-AT before. My first driving impressions, great seating position - nice and high, good driving dynamics, nice spacious interiors, the 1.5L petrol engine was not as refined as I would have liked (and a little noisy), however what I was most delighted about was that the AT didnt feel like a lame duck to drive.

In the standard D mode it gently takes you through city traffic and in the S mode it feels like it has a heartbeat. In a nutsell if you have city traffic to deal with your fine in D and in case you come across a stretch of open road or highway the S should do a good enough job for you to enjoy the car. Its a great package at the offered price and if the DSG can deliver real mileage anywhere between 9-11kms I think its a great buy!!

Well, it only been 20kms so far. Will share more details soon. To the guys who are still batling delivery, my advice is to not take it lying down!

This is insane. You booked the very next day after launch and they are quoting a wait of almost 5 months now. Ford will lose customers at a good rate if they dont do something about production and fair distribution.

I booked mine from Harpreet, diesel titanium and i have been told to wait till 2nd week of september, though by the SA's tone, am sure he wont deliver to his words.

After nearly a weak of following up with the guys at HP FORD Gurgaon, I came to the following conclusions.

1) Ford has a truly spectacular opening 50,000 + bookings and counting. And they are still not closing the bookings. Which means either they feel that cancellations will abound or they plan to meet all the orders.

2) Trend and Ambiente are the major delivered cars till now. Titanium is quite low in allotments, Eco Boost is even lower. 1.5 Petrol is a wait and watch game.

3) Saw the unicorn, the 1.5 Petrol AT in their yard, so folks it is out there and being delivered, but you have to be patient.

4) The recall complicated things further for Ford.

5) They have reduced exports to the Bare minimum amount set by their company to boost internal sales.

6) With a smashing monsoon and Farmers making tons of money in September or harvest months, expect bigger jumps in delivery time.

7) This is the coolest car in India in the price band at this point in time.

8) If you read any old thread of the Duster or the XUV or the Swift or the Dzire or well you get the idea. Basically every popular car has it's share of Haters and Lovers. All the cars have teething problems and almost all the Dealers are Damned to Hell most of the time.

So my take, if the car has crazy waiting periods, rude dealers and a generally clueless owning company, My friend you are going for a killer popular car. Expect great Resale, Good and competitive spares and lot of tips and tricks from the community.

If the dealer is nice, car is available in the evening and you get a call from the company congratulating you on your choice of product. RUN, you are about to buy a LEMON a SALES DUD, a resale LOSER and a general HEADACHE.

I picked up my Silver Ecosport Automatic yesterday and thought I would share the experience thus far...to SC Ford Mumbai.

I decided to take this up with the management of Ford and wrote to Mr. Vinay Pirparsania - Exec Director ; the GM (west region) and the GM of the Dealership, stating all the facts and submitting pre-booking proof.... Needless to say the delivery experience was average at best. I was not expecting any better!

In the standard D mode it gently takes you through city traffic and in the S mode it feels like it has a heartbeat. In a nutsell if you have city traffic to deal with your fine in D and in case you come across a stretch of open road or highway the S should do a good enough job for you to enjoy the car. Its a great package at the offered price and if the DSG can deliver real mileage anywhere between 9-11kms I think its a great buy!!

Congratulations ABbaby sir,

You must be the first 1.5P A/T owner on the forum. Is this your first A/T car?
Please do share your drive report of this A/T since I have the fiesta A/T with me. I am facing certain issues (please check out my thread if you wish to know them) with the car's A/T box (minor one). Also, a lot of members will also wish to know about this autobox.

If you wouldn't mind, please share the email id's or any other contact nos. of the people you contacted in ford to get the delivery's.

I am a customer of SC ford myself since 3 years. One word of advice. Please do not trust the word's of S.A.'s over there. They do not carry out all the things (on my car, they didn't even change the oil!) mentioned. I have changed my service center now. But every now and then I do visit them for someone else's car, and almost always I have to be present to get all the jobs done. Only good thing is, if I raise my voice, they listen.

Thanks,
Simple_car

P.S. I am among the minority over here who has voted for the 3rd option on the poll. I would just like to clarify one thing. I modify my cars for utility purposes. I never modify for looks.

Hey simple car,
Will certainly check out your thread. There are no email ids available. I couriered the letters to Pirpasania's office in Gurgaon. The details are on the website. Maybe you can follow it up with a call to his secretary/assistant. Its impossible to get through. I would recommend you reach out to rachik shah their gm in mumbai. Again no email available but you can locate the address on the net. Tks for the heads up on SC Ford. If you ask me they are a bunch of clowns!

Hi Nitish,
There are no email ids available. I couriered the letters to Pirpasania's office in Gurgaon. The details are on the website. Maybe you can follow it up with a call to his secretary/assistant. Its impossible to get through though.

Last edited by Vid6639 : 18th August 2013 at 14:08.
Reason: merging posts. Please use edit option if posting within 30mins. Thanks!

My brother-in-law is planning to go for the Ecosport. As his monthly running is very limited I have suggested him to go for the Ecoboost Titanium (O). He likes the looks of the thing and I like the engine. Win-win!!

We have been to the nearest Ford showroom twice but the salesman looks least enthusiastic in selling the Ecosport. Last time we checked at Ford Noida, the salesman said he already has 720 bookings in hand and if he we book now then only Lord knows when it will arrive. 7 months is what we are asked to wait and sit back for.

Most of the Ecosports I see on road are mostly the diesel variants. Am I right in thinking that the Ecoboost might get delivered early? Because compared to the diesel avatar the bookings for top-end Ecoboost must be low.(?)

Also, the salesman was very adamant when we asked for Goodyear rubber instead of MRF as OE fitment. He refused point blank saying, whichever brand comes you have to take. No choices!

My brother-in-law is planning to go for the Ecosport. As his monthly running is very limited I have suggested him to go for the Ecoboost Titanium (O). He likes the looks of the thing and I like the engine. Win-win!!

We have been to the nearest Ford showroom twice but the salesman looks least enthusiastic in selling the Ecosport. Last time we checked at Ford Noida, the salesman said he already has 720 bookings in hand and if he we book now then only Lord knows when it will arrive. 7 months is what we are asked to wait and sit back for.

Most of the Ecosports I see on road are mostly the diesel variants. Am I right in thinking that the Ecoboost might get delivered early? Because compared to the diesel avatar the bookings for top-end Ecoboost must be low.(?)

Also, the salesman was very adamant when we asked for Goodyear rubber instead of MRF as OE fitment. He refused point blank saying, whichever brand comes you have to take. No choices!

First of all read my post on the previous page, I have written about the lead times of the various models.

Second there is no shortage of Ford dealers in NCR so if you Dont like one go to the other.
Ecoboost is selling well, less than diesel but still good numbers. The more popular the variant the quicker the delivery.

Tyres are no choice. You get what the car came with. And this is with all companies. If the tire is a bother to you just exchange on getting the car. The difference will be very less.

My brother-in-law is planning to go for the Ecosport. As his monthly running is very limited I have suggested him to go for the Ecoboost Titanium (O). He likes the looks of the thing and I like the engine. Win-win!!

We have been to the nearest Ford showroom twice but the salesman looks least enthusiastic in selling the Ecosport. Last time we checked at Ford Noida, the salesman said he already has 720 bookings in hand and if he we book now then only Lord knows when it will arrive. 7 months is what we are asked to wait and sit back for.

Most of the Ecosports I see on road are mostly the diesel variants. Am I right in thinking that the Ecoboost might get delivered early? Because compared to the diesel avatar the bookings for top-end Ecoboost must be low.(?)

Also, the salesman was very adamant when we asked for Goodyear rubber instead of MRF as OE fitment. He refused point blank saying, whichever brand comes you have to take. No choices!

Ecosport will continue to sell until we will have another hot suv at an aggressive price.

i feel the delay will be there for all variants because ford can only manufacture so many cars per day and they will naturally be manufacturing more diesel as of today due to demand for diesel

dealer will be the last person to know about which Tyre your car comes with, it happened with my maruti too.

but Oem Tyres are all equally good or bad. if you want to change it, do it irrespective of which brand you get. but all the brands will have same spec.

Update from Hyderabad dealer Vibrant Ford. Stopped taking booking for all Petrol models and Titanium O Diesel. And my promised delivery of August is getting pushed to September. My booking number is 1 :(. The reason is unavailability of Blue in Ecoboost

First of all congratulations on your new ride. You are one of the very few members or may be the only one to own the Ecosport Automatic. There are many like me who have booked the Ecosport Automatic and yet to hear any definite news on the delivery timelines.

Also do share your initial ownership experience with pics if possible (very excited to know it all).

Funny thing. If they are booked for 6 months (or 50,000 whichever comes last) then why are they now cold calling all enquirers? Looks like a ramp up in production or heavy cancellations are happening.

First thing ford should is to ramp up production and clear the existing bookings. They should bring down the banners put across at their dealerships boasting for a 1 year waiting period, hence welcoming new bookings especially during the upcoming festive season. These are small tips that Ford should learn from MaruthiSuzuki.